Sheathed knives



June 24, 195s H, BAER 2,839,831

SHEATHED KNIVES Filed Dec. 7, 1955 ATTORNEY United States Patent() Co.,Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 7,1955, Serial No. 551,631 3f claims. (ci. 304296) This' invention relatesto sheathed 'knives andis `particularly adapted, although not so limitedjexcept as .indicated in 'the appended claims, to a pock'e'tknife with afold-in blade.

It is an object of the present invention to vprovide a knife ofthecharacter described which can be conveniently and rapidly secured to ausers belt.

It is another object of the invention to provide a knife of thecharacter described having a mechanism for detachably attaching it to abelt .without opening the belt. .It is further object ofthevlpresentinvention to ',provide a knife of the character describedwherein the attaching mechanism comprises a single piece of materialand, therefore, can be fabricated simply and quickly at a low cost. Y

It is still another object of the invention to provide a knife of thecharacter described wherein the attaching mechanism can be foldedcompactly against the knife out of the users way.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in part willbe pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction,combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts which will beexemplified in the construction hereinafter described, and of which thescope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which is shown one of the variouspossible embodiments of this invention,

Fig. l is a front View of a knife embodying the instant invention, thesame being shown dangling from a waist belt;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view taken substantially along the line 2-2 ofFig. l;

Fig. 3 is a front view of said knife;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the attaching mechanism separated fromthe knife frame;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view of an end of the knife withportions broken away to show the manner in which the attaching mechanismis secured to the knife;

and Y Fig. 6 is a side view of the knife showing the attaching mechanismin telescoped position on the knife.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the reference numeral 10denotes a knife constructed in accordance with the instant invention.Said knife includes an elongated frame 12 and an attaching mechanism 14.The frame comprises two outer lining plates 16 between which bladereceiving compartments are located. Against the inner surface of eachplate 16, an appropriately cut out side spacer 18 is disposed. Acentralspacer 20 is separated from each side spacer by a spring block22. The entire -assembly is secured as by a Vrivet 24 to constitute theframe 12. Various types of pocket knife implements and/or cutting blades26 are pivoted by their tangs in the frame between the spacers on rivets(not shown).

The blades are held in place by the pressure of the springs on theirtangs. A scale 28 is secured on the outer surclothes when no belt isworn.

. A 2Y face vjof each plate 16, between holsters 32 at the ends of the'vframe. The holsters 'are securelyV vattached to the knife frame, e. g.by vbrazing.

h. The attachingmechanism 14'l constituting the subject of the instantinvention comprises a Vshaclde fabricated Afrom a stiff wire 'such as aheavy gauge steel wire.l Said shackle includes a retroverted band 36integrally connecting one set of ends 38 of a first pair of spacedreaches 40. Said reaches are perpendicular to vthe axes about which theknife bladesturn when Vswinging 'fromclo'sed to open posiftion.V Theother' set of ends of thefrstpair of lreaches is joined by retroverte'd'bends '42 to a second pair of spaced reaches 44. The pairs of reachesiverge slightly from one another (see Fig. 2) in a direction awayfrom-bends 42, Yand the secondpairfjf reaches '(44) is spaced from thefirst pair (40) about fVsf'ftl-ii's being 'somewhat greater than thethickness of a belt for'A the waistofapir of trousers. The reachescomprisingeach pairdiveige slightly from veach-other in a directionaway'from the retrove'rt'ed ybendsfriZ (see Fig. 3). Also',.the,reaches44arc spaced spaced from one another a distance less than the width ofthe end of the frame (including the holsters) at the point of attachmentof `the shackle. Thus, the reaches 44 must be forced apart in order toattach the shackle to the frame. They are biased to return to theiroriginal position when the tips enter the openings 50, therebypermitting detachable gripping of the frame by the shackle. Theadditional length of the shackle on each side of the bend 36 provided bydoubling the shackle at the bends -42 prevents the shackle from losingits shape even if repeatedly removed and reattached.

The distance between the bends 42 is slightly less than the thickness ofthe frame (including the scales) at a location on the frame embraced bythese bends when the lshackle is folded against the knife, whereby thebends are forced apart laterally when the shackle is folded against theframe and then biased to their original position securely to hold theshackle in closed position on the frame. The divergence of the reaches40 localizes the pressure of the shackle against the scales and therebyavoids the necessity of employing undue force to swing the shackles toclosed position.

The `knife is used as follows: shackle is pushed behind the users belt,i. e., between the belt and the trousers with the bend 36 facing awayfrom the `belt. The shackle is maneuvered so as to slide the belt inbetween the pairs of reaches with the bend 36 on the outerside ofthebelt and the reaches 44 on the inner side of the belt. In this way,the knife as a whole is conveniently and rapidly attached to the beltwithout opening the same. The knife is likewise easily removed from thebelt for use by slipping the shackle out from between the pairsofreaches; again, it is not' necessary to open the belt.

The knife may be conveniently carried on the users For'example, theshackle may simply be used with the bend 36 facing the wearer, theshacklebeing hooked over the waist band of the trousers.

When the knife is in use, the shackle may be folded out of the way (seeFig. 6). This is accomplished by rotating the shackle so that the frameis received between Y the two pairs Vof reaches. Rotation will belimited by When extended, the

. 3 abutment of the bend 36 against the back of the frame, and asmentioned above the shackle will be held in place on the frame by thegripping action of the bends 42. If desired, the shackle may becompletely removed by spreading the reaches 44 and removing the journalsfrom the bearing openings 48Vin the frame.

It thus will be seen that there is provided a device in which theseveral objects `of thisinvention are achieved and which is well adaptedto meet the conditions of practical use. f j

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention,and as various changes might be -made in the embodiment above set forth,it is to be understood that all matter herein setY forth or shown in theaccompanying drawings is'to be interpreted as .illustrative and not in alimitingsense'. Y l

Having thus described 'my invention, I claim as new anddesire tosecure'by LettersPatent:

l. Incombination with a `knife having a frame from one' edge of whichblades are outfoldable,a stift` Wire shackle having a rst pair of vspaced approximately parallel registered reaches, each reach having alower end and an upper end, a retroverted bend joining said lower ends,and a second pair of spaced approximately Vparallel registered reaches,each reach of said second pair having an upper end and a lower end, aretroverted bend joining the upper end of each reach of the second pairVto the upper endA of a diiferent reach of the rst pair, the reaches sojoined constituting a set ofassociated reaches, the

reaches of each set of associated reaches lying in a plane approximatelyperpendicular to the planes in which the two pairs of reaches arerespectively disposed, a tip at the lower end of each reach of thesecond pair, each tip being disposed at approximately right angles toits associated reach, said tips facing each other, `and means at one endof the frame pivotally receiving said tips and permitting the shackle toswing into telescoped position against the frame in which the rst namedretroverted bend lies against the edge of the knife frame opposite tothat from which the blades are outfoldable whereby when the shackle isswung into a position extending away from the frame the first named pairof reaches are closer to Vsaid edge from which the blades areoutfoldable than to said Vopposite edge.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS CowieFeb.y 19, 1884 Wood Dec. 30, 19x19

